In my last post (Rebecca bag) I mentioned that my mom had picked out a ton of fabrics for me to choose from to make her bag. Well here is what I did with some of the fabrics that didn't make the cut. You see, she also requested a pouch, and I thought it would be the perfect time to make the Open Wide Zippered Pouch from Noodlehead. Oh and why make one when you can make two at the same time!

I started with an assortment of home dec fabrics, some from Denyse Schmidt, a touch of Heather Ross and even some cool Japanese prints. I cut them into 2.5" squares and created 2 patchwork panels, one for each side, so I really created 4. My panels ended up being not quite the size that Anna from Noodlehead suggested, but I just rolled with it, it was close enough. Oh and I made the smallest size (the tutorial has 3 sizes, you can find it HERE.) Once the patchwork panels were done, I ironed them onto some fusible fleece, and then proceeded to straight line quilt them with a nice neutral thread. I love patchwork!

At this point I just followed the directions and kept on sewing. It really is a great tutorial, very easy to understand and I love the way the zipper is done. I only changed two things from the original tutorial. The first was the little zipper end cover shown above. I put the fabric right sides together and sewed the two sides, then flipped it right side out, thus creating a little envelope of sorts. I just had to turn in the raw edge by 1/4", slide it onto the zipper end and just stitch it onto the zipper, thus the one showing seam. The only other change I made was the gusset or box corner width. The tutorial called for a 3.5" gusset, but I reduced the number to 2.5" so my bag isn't quite as wide and sits a tad bit taller. The 3.5" measurement fell weird with the patchwork, so I just adjusted it to fit better with the patchwork squares. If you look at the photo below you can see the bottom corner falls in the middle of the patchwork and not on a seam. Kinda hard to explain, sorry.

I used a simple tone on tone for the lining, making it easier to see your stuff inside the pouch.

The only snag I ran into during this entire project was entirely my irons (or my) fault. You see when it came time to iron the exterior and the lining flat after sewing them to the zipper, my iron accidentally touched the POLYESTER zipper and as you can see in the photo below, melted a fine line of holes in it. On the bright side, the holes are small and since the zipper is polyester, it melted and kind of "sealed" it all at the same time, so it isn't going to run or ravel with time. Oh and this is also the great benefit of making 2 at a time, you mess up one, you still have a perfect one to gift! Poor me, I have to now keep the "damaged" one!

Here they are all finished! It is really a great tutorial, quick project and honestly fun! So if you are ever in need of a great little gift, go ahead and make one, I know the recipient will love it!

Edited 3/15/2014 - I just found out about a great Saturday linky party, hosted by My Go-Go Life, so I am editing this post to add in the button and participate in another fun way to meet new people and explore new blogs!